NIA arrests Stan Swamy, member of banned outfit CPI(Maoist)

NEW DELHI: NIA on Friday said it has arrested Jharkhand-based activist Stan Swamy as he is a member of banned outfit CPI(Maoist) and had received funds through an associate for furtherance of the outfit’s activities.
NIA had detained and questioned the activist in Ranchi in connection with the Elgar-Parishad case on Thursday. He was subsequently arrested and is being taken to Mumbai, an NIA officer told TOI.
According to sources in the Central investigative agency, Stan Swamy is a member of CPI (Maoist) and actively involved in its activities.
"He also received funds through an associate for furtherance of the CPI (Maoist) activities. He is convenor of persecuted prisoners solidarity committee (PPSC), a frontal organisation of CPI (Maoist). The documents related to communications for furthering the activities of CPI (Maoist) and propaganda material of the CPI (Maoist) and literature were seized from his possession," said an NIA officer.
NIA sources also claimed Stan Swamy was found to be in contact with some of the "conspirators", namely Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Hany Babu, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde etc. for the furtherance of CPI(Maoist) activities.
In a statement earlier, the 83-year-old Stan Swamy had claimed that NIA had falsely implicated him for connection with CPI(Maoist) and said many activists and intellectuals "who stand for the rights or tribals, dalits and the marginalised and express their dissent to the ruling powers of the country, are being targetted."